


The Aftermath

by Swax



Series: Somewhere Over the Rift [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: 12x23, 12x23 coda, Alternate Season/Series 13, Canon Compliant, Coda, Compliant until season 12, Gen, Grieving Dean, Grieving Sam, Not Season/Series 13 compliant, Post-Episode: s12e23 All Along the Watchtower, Post-Season/Series 12, Slow Build Castiel/Dean Winchester, Supernatural Coda, canonverse, spn coda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2018-11-03 02:57:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10958214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swax/pseuds/Swax
Summary: Those events take place after the season finale of Supernatural season 12. After Rowena died. After Crowley died. After Castiel died. And after Mary got locked away in an alternate universe with Lucifer and Bobby...This is the brothers' first job after everything went down.





	1. A dreadful symbol

**Author's Note:**

> Bear with me it's apparently going to be longer than I thought, that's only the first chapter...  
> Thank you Annelies for giving me the spark to start this story ♥
> 
> EDIT: This was initially going to be a oneshot fic. But I realised it was a loooong one so I've now decided to make it a series. It's a slow-burner.
> 
> This is part 1 of the "Somewhere over the rip" (SOtR) series

When he crossed the rip the first thing he saw was the relief on both of the brothers’ faces. Before he could even gather his wits he felt a sharp pain in his back: something was very wrong. In a flood, his grace was leaving, streaming from every pore of his body. His mouth and eyes lit up, and then, just like that, it was over and he collapsed.

Castiel, the angel of the Lord, was no more.

 

**

 

Dean heard himself yell in fear, then there was nothing but the hollowness. Deafening silence punctuated only by the heavy pounding of his own heart.

What unfolded afterwards, Mary beating the crap out of Lucifer and disappearing into the rip, seemed to happen in slow motion for Dean. He emerged from his torpor momentarily, seconds too late to reach for his mother, his fist closing on thin air.

He hadn’t noticed Sam running back towards the house. He hadn’t even noticed himself falling to his knees beside the angel. He looked up at the night sky, numbly hoping for a divine intervention. Silently praying for Chuck to appear or at least to revive the angel. When nothing happened, he felt it. The weight of loneliness. The void. His eyes filled with tears.

He grabbed Cas by the collar and shook him in a desperate attempt to wake him.

“Cas! Wake up! Wake up for fuck’s sake! Wake up you hear me? Don’t you die on me, you son of a bitch!” Tears were streaming down his face now but he couldn’t care less. He shook Cas one last time and let out a loud heartbreaking sob. He buried his face in his best friend’s shirt, crushing it between his fingers.

“Please, Cas. Please, I need you.” he managed, between sobs. He looked up to where the rip had been. He remembered his mom’s face as she vanished and he sobbed again.

After some time — he had no idea how long — he let go of Cas and stood up. His teeth gritted and expression hard. He picked up the angel blade, lifted Cas’s body in his arms and carried him to the Impala. He laid him carefully on the back seat and put the blade on his friend’s chest, placing his hands over it.

He sniffled and looked up at the house. He ran in and up the stairs, boots stomping loudly, his own angel blade in his hand.

He came running into Kelly’s room where he found her lying peacefully on the bed. He grunted in frustration, kicking out at the door then barged into the nursery, nearly running into Sam.

“Where’s that fucking baby?”, he yelled, Sam grabbed his arm and wordlessly pointed to where Jack, the new-born Nephilim, sat naked in the corner of the room.

“Dean —Don’t —” Sam whispered.

Jack rose up suddenly, lifting from the ground in one movement, unnaturally effortless and walked towards Dean, his eyes gleaming gold. His feet left burns on the hardwood floor as he moved. With a flick of his wrist, the angel blade in Dean's hand became white hot. Dean hissed, dropping the knife as he stared at the young man in disbelief. Dean’s face fell as the Nephilim smiled. Then both brother’s eyes widened in shock as the voice of the creature began to resonate through both of their heads although its lips had not moved at all.

“I have no interest in you. So I’ll allow you to live for now, but do not cross me or it will be the last thing you’ll ever do.” The voice chilled them both to their bones.

Jack walked between the two brothers grazing their hands and burning them as he did so, apparently unconcerned by his nakedness, and headed towards Kelly’s room.

As they turned to follow both brothers found themselves unable to move. They twisted on the spot but their feet refused to move.

From the nursery they watched Jack lean over his mother's body and kiss her forehead. As he stepped away, flames appeared, licking around the edges of her body at first and then swirling around her like a whirlwind of fire, engulfing her in a raging pyre. She was gone. He turned and smiled at the boys one last time, and disappeared in a flash of golden light. Hot air whooshed from the bedroom to the nursery and instantly the boys were able to move again.

Flames began to spread, consuming the house as they ran for the door. When they reached a safe distance, they turned back to see the house engulfed in flames.

Despite the heat, Dean felt a sudden cold wave run up his spine.

He had seen a house burning down before, and it had been the end of his happiness. Tonight, though he had never thought it possible, his misery had reached a new low. He had lost his best frenemy, his mom and his angel, all in an hour, and once again, a burning house was the dreadful symbol of all that.

Sam glanced at his brother. “I’m sorry Dean— I don’t— I don’t know what’s going through your head, right now but—” Sam started.

“Don’t,” Dean replied with a pained expression.

“I’m so sorry— I didn’t trust Crowley, but I know you sort of did and—”

“Shut up, Sammy.”

Sam moved closer to Dean. “But Cas— A… And Mom, I—” his voice cracked as he went to hug his brother but Dean spun to face him.

“I said shut up Sam!” he yelled and threw a punch, hitting his younger brother straight in the face.

Sam fell to the ground and looked up at Dean in shock. “What the hell, Dean?!”

Realising what he had done, Dean paled and held out a hand to help him up. “I’m sorry man, it’s just too much,” he said quietly, rubbing his hand over his eyes, “We need to go, I can’t be here.”

Sam glared at him, rubbing his hand over the bruise rapidly forming on his jaw. He looked like he wanted to yell some more but he just sighed and shook his head as he scrambled to his feet.

They headed towards the car, Dean’s heart sinking as he remembered who, or what, was inside. He bit his lip, fighting back tears as he approached the Impala. Sam followed him and stopped dead when he saw the body of their friend lying still on the back seat. Once again, Dean’s heart broke. But his smart baby brother had the decency not to say a word.

Dean drove back to the bunker, carefully avoiding glancing over his shoulder or into the rearview mirror, ignoring the spot where Cas used to sit and where he was now lying dead. 


	2. Regrets and Reminiscence

The drive home had been silent, Dean had insisted on driving the whole way, which had allowed Sam to drift off. In the silence of the car, Dean focused on the road, grateful for the chance to focus on something—anything-- else.

Once they arrived at the bunker Sam stepped out of the car and spoke for the first time in hours. “You ok?” he asked Dean.

“Give me a minute” his brother replied.

Sam nodded and walked away, leaving Dean alone in the garage.

Dean sighed deeply and dropped his head forward against the worn leather of the steering wheel.

“Really man? How could you do this?" he asked Castiel. "It was over. Crowley had closed the rip, Lucifer was being trapped, we were coming home, all four of us! You, Me, Sammy, and mom-- as a family! Why did you have to go and be all heroic?” On that last question, he turned around sharply to scowl at Castiel but his face dropped as his eyes landed on his lifeless body. He let out a sharp breath and shut his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose with a bitter smile. It was all too much to bear. “I mean—I’m sorry I didn’t even get to hold you as you died. . . Sam and I— We always took you for granted.” He sighed and faced the front again.

“ _Oh but Cas is fine. He’s always fine_.” he said mimicking Sam, “ _Don’t worry about Cas_ ,” he scoffed. “I guess with you being eternal, I always thought you’d be around, you know? To clean up my mess. And you told me so yourself. You said when everyone I loved was gone, you’d be there, and—“ he sighed on the verge of tears again and turned to look at Castiel. “And I guess— In a way, I believed you, man.” Dean’s voice cracked on that last sentence. “I’m so sorry I failed you. You didn’t deserve it, and— And I swear to you Cas— I  ** _swear_** , I’ll bring you back. I don’t care what it takes, I don’t care how long it takes, but I will. I won't ever give up on you because you’ve never given up on me. So wherever you are, don’t get too comfy because I’m coming to get you, buddy.”

He reached out and squeezed the angel's hands trying not to notice how cold they felt.

Dean stepped out of the car and called Sammy for help: they were going to bury Cas’s body.

 

**

 

A few hours and even more drinks later Dean was still awake in his room, fiddling with Cas’s blade.

Sam had long gone to bed and Dean was glad he hadn’t tried to get him to talk. He didn’t want to talk at all right now, let alone about feelings. He just needed time to process.

“ _Rowena’s dead, Crowley’s dead, Mom’s gone and Cas is—“_ it was too hard to even formulate the thought.

He didn’t understand why he was even grieving over Rowena and Crowley. _"They’re assholes,”_  he thought. “ _Useful and sometimes fun to hang out with assholes.”_ He smiled half-heartedly, reminiscing. Even if he had been a demon at the time, he couldn’t pretend that the “summer of love” as Sam called it-- the few months he had spent with Crowley— hadn’t been a good time. And Rowena, despite everything, had helped them more than even she had cared to admit. When he had been struggling with the Mark of Cain, when he was losing his memories and himself, she had been there to help.

Dean tried not to think of Cas. It was too painful, but he couldn’t help himself. Unfortunately, any good times they’d had were now tainted with regrets and sorrow.

When he finally fell asleep he was fully-clothed with half an empty glass in his hand. He slept a dreamless sleep.

**

He woke up in a haze the next morning and for a fleeting couple of happy seconds before he opened his eyes, he thought everything was alright. He would get up, tell the angel what a stupid dream he had had and they would both laugh it off. Or rather, he’d be laughing and Cas would be squinting his blue eyes and tilting his head trying to understand the humour of the situation. Dean would just pat the angel’s shoulder affectionately and— His half-waking dream was shattered by a crashing noise-- He sat up sharply and realised broken glass was scattered over the floor and his shirt and t-shirt were wet with whiskey.

Everything came rushing back to him.

“Fuck,” he grunted as he cautiously got out of bed to clean up the mess.

As he opened his bedroom door he came face to face with Sammy who had his hand out, reaching for the handle. “I heard a noise, are you okay?” Sam asked, brow furrowed in concern.

“I’m fine. I need coffee, a clean shirt, a dustpan, and a brush.” Dean replied.

Sam gave him a quizzical look.

 “The coffee’s for me, the dustpan and brush are for the floor and the clean shirt well—” Dean opened his arms so that his brother could see his wet shirt.

Sam smiled. “I’ll clean that up. What you need is a shower. You reek, dude.”

It was Dean’s turn to give his brother a quizzical look. “You think I can’t clean up my own mess? Come on Sammy, stop tiptoeing around. I’m ok. I’m not completely useless yet!” he said defensively.

Sam stared in disbelief, but he knew better than to get into this. He rolled his eyes. “Ok, no. Of course, you could do it yourself. But I found us a case so we need to get going.”

“Oh, you— You found us a case, huh? When? Was it before or after our best friend died?” he asked aggressively.”Oh! Or maybe it was after our mom disappeared into Bizarro world with the Devil?”

Sam sighed and walked away. “Whatever Dean, I was just offering to help. I’m leaving in an hour, you’re welcome to join.” At the end of the corridor, he turned back. “Lose the attitude, dude, you’re not fooling anyone,” he said.

Dean didn’t answer, watching as Sam walked away. Then he turned and headed for the showers.

 

**

 

Dean entered the very last stall and turned on the water. He hadn’t realised how dirty he was or how exhausted he felt until he let the hot water run down his sore body. He exhaled and closed his eyes. He couldn’t help but think that the burial from the previous night was a sick joke.

 

~~

 

  _Sam helped Dean carry Cas’s body out of the Impala. They took him behind the bunker and laid him down in the grass._

_“Dean— Are you sure we shouldn’t burn the bo—“ A glare from Dean dissuaded Sam from finishing his sentence, “Ok, it’s your call man…” he said simply._

_A couple of hours and a few beers later, Cas’s body was laid in the ground, wrapped in his signature trench-coat. Dean had made a point of unstraightening Cas’s tie, the way he used to wear it when they first met. He gave a sad smile and whispered, “You assbutt,” Sam let out a hollow laugh._

_Dean managed not to cry over the grave as they were filling it with dirt. He hadn’t been able to think of any words to say, there were too many to know where to begin. Instead, it was Sam who spoke._

_“Cas, I’m glad you were a part of our life. I know we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye but I also know that whatever you did, you did it according to your heart and your beliefs. I just wish we had been there for you the way you’ve been for us…” he paused, suddenly emotional. “Look, I’m sorry man, we didn’t get to live as a family like we promised and that’s a shame. You were my brother as much as Dean and I really regret not telling you that more often. I know you were closer to Dean in some ways, but we had our moments too. Thank you for pulling me out of hell, literally. And thank you for always choosing us over your family. You were right Cas, we **are** your family. And I love you too, man.”_

_Dean scoffed. Whether he didn’t hear him or just chose to ignore him, Sam didn’t comment. He just sighed. “Just… Rest in peace, okay? Wherever you are.”_

_Dean spun on his heels and walked away, heading back to the bunker without a backward glance._

~~

 

Dean scoffed again reminiscing the scene from last night.

“Don’t you think it’s too late now, Sammy?” he said out loud.

 _“At least he managed to say it, even if it was after Cas’ death. You, on the other hand, haven’t even uttered the fucking words once, Dean”._ The thought hurt, but it was true.

If he was honest with himself, he knew that saying the words out loud would have made it all the more painful. He was afraid that once he started speaking he wouldn’t be able to stop talking, wouldn’t be able to stop himself from falling apart. So he kept it all sealed in. Deep down he felt that acknowledging it with a goodbye would mean that Cas was gone for good, and that was something Dean Winchester was nowhere ready to come to terms with. 


	3. Houdini kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bear with me: this fic is definitely going to be more developped than I had intended, so I can't just make everything happen in 3 chapters. This one (and the next couple of chapters, I guess) are going to be filler chapters, kind of, but I'll try and make them interesting still... Hopefully, I'll manage... 
> 
> Please, don't hesitate to leave comments, and constructive criticism, they're always appreciated ♥

After he finished his shower Dean headed to the car. Once he reached the Impala, he rested his elbows on the passenger window and leaned inside.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked Sam.

“I’m driving. You were behind the wheel all day yesterday, and by the look of you, you haven’t slept much, so get in.”

Dean grunted but did as he was told.

“Fine, I could use some shut-eye anyway,” he said as he opened the door and got in. “But you’d better be careful with my car,” he added grumpily.

After thirty minutes of silence and sidelong glances, Sam finally spoke.  “Aren’t you going to ask what the job is about?”

Dean sighed. “Pray tell Samuel, what is this job about?” he asked dramatically.

“If you’re going to be cocky, I can take you back, you know? We’re not that far.”

“And go on a case by yourself with my Baby? No way!” Dean replied, patting the dashboard of the car. He sighed. “Ok, what’s it about?”

Sam motioned Dean to open the glove box. Inside was a newspaper. Sam pointed to an article on the top page.

“Jacksonville, Arkansas: two brothers, 7 and 9, and their babysitter went missing last week,” he said. “The babysitter was present both times. After the first disappearance, she told the police she had heard the boys scream. By the time she reached their room, the youngest boy was gone and the eldest was in shock. Both she and the big brother disappeared two days after that, no sign of forced entry. So… What do you think?” asked Sam.

“I don’t know, could be a case of babysitter gone rogue?” Dean said thoughtfully looking at the pictures of the missing boys. “Where were the parents? You’d think after one of your kids disappears on the babysitter's watch you’d at least get a different one…”

“Yeah, I guess. Well, it’s worth having a look, isn’t it?” asked Sam.

“If you say so,” replied Dean. He folded the newspaper carelessly and shoved it back inside the glove box.

“What?” asked Sam visibly annoyed.

“Nothing,” replied Dean sullenly. Sam scowled at him.

Dean looked away, staring out of the window for a long time. Then he said in a low voice. “It’s just— Don’t you think we have better things to do?”

“Really? What else is there to do? Other than saving people, hunt—“

“That’s not your line, Sammy.” Dean paused and turned to his brother. “I mean Rowena, Crowley, Cas and mom are all dead, and you’re jumping right back in! We need to bring them back.”

Sam glared at Dean. “Mom’s not dead!” he half-shouted. He focused back on the road and said more quietly “She’s just— gone, that’s all.”

“That’s another word for it…” said Dean.

Sam huffed angrily. “Anyway, what do you mean, bring them back? Mom’s in another dimension, and you saw what happened to Crowley and Cas. An angel blade-- there’s no coming back from that--for either of them.”

Dean scoffed. “Well there was no coming back from hell either, but we both did. And who do we have to thank for it? I’m just saying, it's the least we can do,” Dean said. “When did you even have time to find us a job anyway?” he asked abruptly turning towards his brother. “We buried Cas just yesterday Sam. **_Yesterday!_** ”

“I just—” he shook his head, “I thought you would need it. The action, the job…”

Dean rolled his eyes. Sam went on. “Well,  ** _I_**  needed it anyway. But if you must know, I looked for a job after the burial… I couldn’t sleep.”

Dean stared at Sammy for a few seconds then looked away. Silence fell again.

**

Later that day they arrived in Jacksonville and found a room at the Two Owls motel. They agreed to go to bed early and start their investigation the next morning.

After two hours of twisting and turning in his bed, and despite his mental exhaustion, Dean finally admitted to himself that he couldn’t sleep. He decided to go for a walk. He found himself reaching for his phone, hoping he’d got a text from Mary or Cas. He soon realised how stupid that was and tucked his phone back into his pocket, only to take it out again seconds later. He called his mom and let it ring until it went to voicemail. He smiled at the sound of her voice, listening to the end of her message before he hung up.

He then called Crowley. “ _Not even interested, unless it’s about that winged bastard Lucifer, then leave a message.”_ Dean smiled again, the demon had flair.

He stared at his phone with hesitation, smoothing his fingers mindlessly over the screen. Finally, he called Cas.

“ _This is my voicemail. Make your voice. . . a mail.”_

Dean chuckled half-heartedly. He could almost picture the angel being upset at the voicemail lady. “You, dork,” he said fondly. He didn’t leave a message, because, really what could have he said?

Dean played Cas's voicemail a couple of times more and pocketed his phone, he went to the nearest liquor store and bought some cheap whiskey. On the way back he had already downed half of the bottle.

An hour later, he went back to the room trying to be as quiet as possible as Sam was sound asleep. Or so Dean thought.

 

**

 

While his brother was out, Sam had turned to lie on his back, staring at the outline of the ceiling fan in the darkness. He couldn’t sleep. The events of the past few days had taken a toll on him. He was trying to keep up appearances for Dean: he hadn’t even cried, not even when he was alone. But underneath it all, he was devastated.

First their best friend, then their mom… And now Dean being a jerk. Sam didn’t even know what to do or say around his brother without upsetting him or triggering his anger. He reached for his phone on the nightstand and dialled Mary's number.

“ _I’m not here at the moment, but I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”_

Sam listened to the message six times in a row, trying to hear nuances in his mom’s voice as if he could find a hidden meaning in a simple voicemail. When he couldn't detect anything unusual, he hung up and pinched the bridge of his nose, holding back tears.

After a moment he picked up the phone again and dialled Cas. He chuckled to himself at the familiar awkward message. “One day I’m gonna have to teach you how to use a voicem—”

The sound of Dean’s key in the door cut him off and he swiftly put his phone, screen down, on the nightstand and turned his back, pretending he was asleep.

He heard Dean stagger to the bathroom and back to bed, trying, and failing, to be quiet.

 

**

 

In the morning, after grabbing a quick breakfast, the brothers met with the family of the victims.

“We already went over this with the police. Please. It’s hard enough as it is,” the mother told Sam. She looked exhausted. She had raised her black thick hair into a messy bun and had visible bags under her eyes, but she obviously didn't care about that.

With a look of concern, Sam spoke softly. “I’m sorry Mrs Knight. I understand how hard this must be for you but I do need to ask you these questions again. We need to know everything that might help us find your children, even if you don't think it's relevant. It’s very important that you don’t omit anything. The smallest detail could make a huge difference.”

The lady sighed and wiped her eyes with a tissue as she poured coffee for the brothers.

“As I told the police, my husband and I were both working, so we left the kids with Penny. She’s our current babysitter. So the first time it happened, I had just started my shift, I’m an ER physician you see, and I was on duty that night.

“Around midnight Penny called the hospital saying my youngest boy had vanished,” she paused to blow her nose, “so I called my husband who was on duty as well, he’s an obstetrician in the same hospital. We both managed to find a replacement and we rushed back home. The police were here already and Penny and Griffin, our eldest son, were crying. Penny was telling the police what had happened.”

“What did she tell them?” Dean asked.

Mrs Knight shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t— I don’t know exactly. My husband suddenly got very mad and the police officers had to calm him down. But I suppose you can go and ask her. Here’s her address.” She scribbled something on a piece of paper which she then gave to Dean.

“Wait a minute, I thought she had disappeared with your second son?” Dean asked, puzzled.

Mrs Knight sobbed.

“No… No. Lucy did,” she replied.

“Who’s Lucy?” asked Sam.

“She was our previous babysitter, she had moved out at the beginning of the semester to travel with her mysterious boyfriend, no one has ever met. But I guess it didn’t work out. She was back in town and giving a hand at the diner.”

A tear slipped down her cheek.

“She used to take care of the boys. They’ve grown very fond of her, especially Nathan, our youngest son. He had— ** _has_** , a crush on her,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry, I’m usually quite composed, but—”

“But these are difficult times, we understand,” Sam said, putting his hand on top of Mrs Knight's. “Please take your time.”

She wiped her eyes again. “Thank you”, she said. She exhaled deeply and went on.

“The second time we were both on duty as well. We had begged the hospital not to be, at least not at the same time, but they're short-staffed, so we didn’t have a choice. Penny is still under investigation and my husband didn’t want her near Griffin anyway, so we called Lucy and she was glad to come. We thought it would help Griffin to see her again.

“My husband got home first and when he couldn’t find them anywhere, he called the police and then he called me.”

She broke down in tears loudly.

“This is a nightmare! How is this even possible? The police found her bag and her phone. Even her shoes!” Who leaves without their shoes?” She was sobbing uncontrollably now. Dean got up and motioned Sam to comfort her.

“May I check your sons’ room, Mrs Knight?” he asked.

She waved vaguely towards the stairs.

“Sure, it’s upstairs. But the police already combed through everything,” she replied through her tears.

“Well, better safe than sorry,” Dean said.

The woman glared. “Don’t you think it’s a little too late for that, agent Taylor?”

Dean nodded awkwardly as Sam frowned at him. He went upstairs.

 

**

 

After a few minutes, he came back down shaking his head to Sam who raised a questioning eyebrow at him over his shoulder.

Sam got to his feet and held Mrs Knight’s hands in his own.

“Thank you for your time Mrs Knight, I think we’re done here for now. We’ll let you know how it goes. If you remember anything, please call us.” He let go of her hands and gave her his business card.

“Thank you agent Deacon,” she smiled warmly at Sam then turned to Dean, “Agent Taylor.”

 

**

 

“So, apparently, Mommy here seems to like you, me on the other hand…” Dean said jokingly once they stood on the Knights’ front porch.

 “Well, you were kind of insensitive back there,” Sam said.

“I’m sorry. I don’t do puppy eyes and empathy. That’s your thing!”

“And what’s yours? Being a jerk to people?”

“Hunting. Plus, you were doing great listening to her, you didn't need me. Should I remind you we have a lot on our plate?” Dean asked. “If you’re still interested in the case: there was no EMF, no sulphur, and I couldn’t find any hex bags…" he said ticking off the items on his fingers. “ So we have two Houdini kids, a vanishing babysitter, another traumatised one and no clues to go on…” he said, raising his hands in frustration.

“So it’s not a ghost, nor a demon, and supposedly not a witch?” Sam asked.

Dean clicked his tongue, “Bingo!”

“Okay,” Sam decided, “let's go to the police station and then I guess we should pay a visit to the first babysitter. She might know something,” he said, heading to the car.


	4. A man in a hat

_*Penny’s apartment — An hour later*_

A few moments after they knocked, the door opened a crack. A small face appeared framed with dirty blond hair and puffy red eyes stared at them.

“Who are you?” Penny asked.

“I’m special agent Taylor and this special agent Deacon,” Dean said pointing at Sam. “We need to ask you a few questions. We talked to the police and they told us what you told them, but we need to hear it from you.”

She sniffled. “Can I see your badges?” she asked as she held out a trembling hand. It took her a few seconds to read the brothers’ badges and decide they were real. She gave them back to Dean and closed the door, only to open it again a second after.

“Come in,” she said as she stood aside and waved them towards a door on the right. “The living room’s that way. Sorry for the mess, I don’t seem to be able to do any chores these days.”

Sam smiled warmly at her and followed Dean.

She indicated they should sit on the couch but she bustled around the small room, clearing litter from the couch before they even reached it. It was littered with tissues, a blanket carelessly thrown on one armrest, a sandwich sat half-eaten on the coffee table, with a bag of chips ripped open by its side, and finally three giant empty mugs with the tea bag still inside. The television showed a middle-aged lady praising some cleaning product.

Penny quickly got rid of the trash, balled up the blanket, and turned off the television.

“Please sit. Can I offer you some coffee or tea?” she asked, already half way out of the door.

“No, thank you ma’am, please come and sit,” Sam said in a soothing voice.

She came back and tightened her oversized cardigan over her chest as she sat cross-legged on the remaining armchair.

“It’s about Nathan and Griffin, right?” she asked, already knowing the answer. Sam nodded.

“Well, as I said. I put them to bed around 9,” she started, “ then I went to the kitchen to microwave the meal Mrs Knight had left for me. I finished eating around 9.30 and watched TV. I think I dozed off at some point.”

She was staring into space, reminiscing.

“Around 11.30 I heard a thud in the boys’ room, so I went to tell them off because it was a school night. By the time I reached the stairs I heard a scream. I ran to them I swear!” she said, with tears in her eyes. Looking at Sam and Dean as if she had only just remembered she had company.

“Griffin ran into my arms crying and Nathan was just gone.” she paused and looked at Dean, “I swear that’s it! I didn’t see anything. And apart from the thud and the scream, I didn’t hear anything either! He just vanished.”

The brothers exchanged a look.

“Ok,” Dean started, “have you ever witnessed anything else out of the ordinary at the Knights’ house? Flickering lights, maybe? Or weird noises, like scratching? You know, like rats in the walls?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Ok, did you feel cold spots somewhere around the house that night? You know those old houses can be. . . Drafty. . .” Sam asked.

Penny frowned. “No. This is a very well-kept home, if they had rats, electrical problems or drafts they would have dealt with them,” she said as if it was the most obvious thing.

“O-Kay… What about enemies, do you know if anyone wanted to hurt the Knights?”

“No of course not! They're the nicest people, they're both doctors! Mrs Knight's a great mom, and she’s a great physician, and Mr Knight is— “ she huffed, “Who would want to hurt them?”

“You tell me,” said Dean, frowning.

“Also, the window was closed. I closed it myself when I put the boys to bed,” she paused. “So I don’t know what you’re implying, but no one could have—“

“Is it possible that someone came in while the window  ** _was_**  open? That is, before you put the kids to bed?” Sam asked.

Penny shifted uneasily.

“I don’t—“ she sighed. “Okay that might be a possibility, but it was still closed when I ran in. We looked for Nathan for a good 20 minutes, and we looked everywhere! Starting with the closet. And he was just gone!” She started crying. “ I swear I don’t know what happened I— I love those boys! Please find them!”

She jumped up from the armchair and fell to her knees in front of Dean, crying and begging, burying her face in his lap.

She let out a muffled cry “Please!”

Dean looked at Sam not knowing what to do. Sam motioned him to comfort her, Dean just shot him a dirty look. He patted her shoulder awkwardly with a forced smile.

“Hey c’mon, it's ok!” he said trying to soothe her and force her to regain her composure. It didn't seem to help as she continued to cry and grasp at his leg. “Ok, let’s— Let’s calm down,” he said, grabbing her shoulders. She looked up, her eyes gleaming with tears.

Dean pushed her back and stood up, hands still on her shoulders, leading her back to the armchair. She turned around, hugged him and cried some more. So, reluctantly and still awkwardly, he patted her back without a word. She let go of him and smiled weakly as she took his hands.

“Thank you agent Taylor,” she said between sobs, “you’re very good at comforting people.”

Dean sat back on the couch and while her back was turned, he pointed at himself and mouthed to Sam, “Good at comforting.” He flashed a toothy smile at his brother who scowled.

“Alright, so I suppose Griffin must have told you what he saw?” Sam asked as Dean regained a serious expression.

“Yes. But it won't help you,” Penny replied, “the police said he was in shock and created a story that was less traumatising for him.”

“It's okay, just tell us what he told you,” Sam said.

“Ok, well, Griffin said a man came out of the dark,” she paused. “A man in a hat, he had white eyes, giant teeth and long claws. He said he grabbed Nathan and dragged him back from where he came.”

She looked at Sam and Dean as if trying to read their expressions. They exchanged a look. Penny groaned in frustration, throwing her hands up.

“See, I told you!” she exclaimed. “The boys, they. . . They like horror stories, well, Griffin does, Nathan gets scared. I guess that's actually the reason why Griffin loves them so much! So I wouldn't read much into it if I were you.”

But Dean was suddenly very interested.

“So this man in a hat, did he say or do anything?” he asked.

“What? No! I told you, he doesn't exist! Griffin came up with this story because he was in shock.”

“How do you know?” Dean asked.

“That's what the police said. Also, I checked the room and no-one was— ” Penny started.

“Where did the thud come from?” Sam asked suddenly remembering.

“Oh. . . Griffin said Nathan knocked over the lamp as he was trying to grasp it when the man took him.” Penny replied matter-of-factly.

“Ok, so. . . A boy tells you a man was in his room and took his brother and you. . . What? Look for the brother for 20 minutes instead of calling the police?” Sam asked incredulously.

Penny averted his stare. “I know I messed up. I just thought it was another one of their silly jokes.”

Sam looked more and more baffled, so she kept going. “They love practical jokes. They always get me spinning around in circles! It had been a while since the Knights had called me to babysit the boys, so I thought it was their way of welcoming me back. Of course, when I realised it wasn't, I called the police right away and then I called Mr and Mrs Knight.”

Sam stood up. “Excuse me, can you give us a minute?” he asked Penny.

The young woman nodded.

Sam thanked her and left the room with Dean. Once the door was closed, Dean turned to Sam, grinning.

“Well Mommy likes you, but I have a thing with the hot babysitter!”

Sam's eyebrows furrowed. “She's underage Dean!” he sighed in disgust and exasperation.

Dean looked towards the door. “What? Nooo. . .”

Sam huffed, “Ok, maybe not, but she's still too young for you. And, she's a suspect.” he added.

Dean sighed. “But man—“

Sam scowled at him.

Dean continued. “Ah, I guess you're right. . . Okay, so what do we have? A monster who wears hats, with big teeth and claws, and white eyes?” he threw his hands up. “Have you ever heard of anything like this?”

“Nope,” Sam said. “Many cultures have monsters that snatch kids. But a lot of them are women, though,” he added.

“What? So our guy might be a girl?” Dean suggested.

“Not sure,” Sam said thoughtfully. “The kid said “a man”, not “someone”, so I guess we should look for male monsters.”

“Well remember Shtrigas? Aren't they supposed to be women too? But that one in Wisconsin was definitely a dude.” Dean said.

“Well, it only took the appearance of a male doctor. . . But anyway, it can't be a Shtriga, the kids're not sick, they're missing. So I guess we need to hit the books.” Sam said shrugging.

“Well you hit the books, and I'll interrogate Penny a bit more—”

“Dean!”

“What? It will only take me a few minutes. You saw how shifty she was when she talked about the father? What if they had an affair, it went wrong and she hurt the kids?” he said.

“Really? And then what? She came back to take the other child AND the other babysitter?”

“Babysitter gone rogue. Told you!” Dean said triumphantly.

“So no hat monster, huh?” Sam asked.

“I dunno, you hit the books college boy, and I'll talk to Penny.”

“Look if you're only asking a few questions, the books can wait.”

“Ok, then, but wait for me in the car, I feel that she'll be more inclined to talk if it's only me.”

Sam scowled and Dean replied with a smug smile. They both headed to the living room where Penny hadn't moved.

“My partner has been called to the office but I have a few more questions to ask you and then we're out of your hair,” Dean said as Sam left, thanking Penny for her time.

“What can you tell us about the other babysitter, the one who disappeared with the Knight's eldest son?” Dean asked.

“I've never met her, I just know she knew them for a while, since they were little and the boys really liked her, especially Nathan. That's why he was harder to win over when I first started. I think he had a crush on her.”

“And about the Knights?” Dean continued.

“As I said they’re good people. Mrs Knight always cooks for me, and she asks about my family and everything. And Mr Knight wrote me a letter of recommendation for my nursing school. He's a very nice and caring man, he always drives me back home after I've babysat the boys, no matter how late.”

A slight smile hovered on her face and disappeared, but it didn't go unnoticed by Dean.

“Ok. . . Is there anything between you and Mr Knight?” he asked.

Penny almost jumped. “What? No! He's much older than me!”

Dean smirked. “Well, he wouldn't be the first dad to bang the babysitter.”

Penny got to her feet, blushing violently.

“Bang the babysitter! Who do you think I am? There is nothing between Peter and me!”

Dean smiled triumphantly. “Peter, huh?”

Penny fell silent, but her face was still bright red. She crossed her arms and sat back down, furious. She took a deep breath and spoke grudgingly.

“Mr Knight has never been anything more to me than what I told you. I'm not a homewrecker!”

Dean raised an eyebrow and she sighed.

“I'm not saying I've never thought about it, but I don't think he'd even consider it, and anyway I love the boys and I respect Mrs Knight, okay?” She added with a huff.

“Okay, I'm sorry, but I had to ask,” Dean said, “we don't want to have any loose ends in this case. Two boys are missing. And I'm sure it's no news to you that we need to find them quickly.”

“I know. I'm sorry,” Penny replied. “It's just been a crazy week. I can't wrap my head around the fact that they're both gone and that I could have been as well. I just got lucky Mr Knight didn't want me there. Who knows where I would be now. . .”

Dean patted her hand mindlessly and stood up.

“Okay I've got to go, but here's my card, please call me if you remember anything. No matter how weird it sounds.”

Penny stood up as well and walked Dean to the door. “Thank you agent Taylor, I will.”

Dean left to meet Sam in the car. The drive back to the motel only took a few minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm trying something new: adding images/gifs to chapters, because another author I love and admire (hey [AnchorsOutAtSea](http://archiveofourown.org/users/AnchorsOutAtSea/pseuds/AnchorsOutAtSea)) did that in one of their fics and I just thought it was awesome ♥ 
> 
> So here's Sam telling Dean to comfort Penny:  
> 
> 
> And here's Dean toothy smug smile to Sam :  
> 
> 
> And finally Sam's reponse to Dean smug smile:  
> 


	5. Confrontations

_*At the motel*_

Sam was nose deep in the books while Dean was mindlessly flicking through the channels.

“I don't know. . . A man in a hat. . . It could be any type of monster with a hat fetish! A shapeshifter, maybe?” Sam started.

“Well, but don't you think they would've taken a shape that the kids would recognise and not scream about?” Dean said.

“Yeah, you're right. So what? A lamia? But they're usually women and also, apart from that one we killed a few years back, they rarely leave Greece.” He sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes. “None of this makes sense. It could be a Baba-Yaga, or a Gello—”, Sam started.

“A Jell-O?” Dean interrupted, “I knew those were evil. Food that moves on its own is never good!” he added.

Sam cocked an eyebrow, “What? What are you even. . . Gello! With a G and no hyphen! They date back to Babylonian times, but just like Lamias or Baba-Yagas, they're female. . .”

Dean looked disappointed but his face lit up all of a sudden.

“It could be a Tulpa!” he exulted.

“It's not a Tulpa,” Sam replied coldly.

“Well, it fits!” Dean replied. “I mean, for all we know, they could be anything! A giant octopus with a chain mail, a cannibal warlock with a taste for eyeballs, or a man in a hat!” he gloated.

“When is it  _ **ever**_  a tulpa, Dean?” Sam asked sceptically.

“It was once with Molo. . . Malackay—”

“Mordecai?” Sam corrected, “Yes, once! Eons ago!” Sam said, irritated.

“Still! Could be possible!” Dean grumbled.

Sam sighed in exasperation and kept on digging.

A couple of hours later as Dean was falling asleep in front of a rerun of Dr Sexy M. D. Sam nudged him in the leg. Dean grunted but opened his eyes.

“What?”

“Get this, I found two types of monsters that could fit, they both have horns but they could definitely hide them under a hat,” Sam said.

“Okay, listening,” Dean said sitting up as he rubbed his eyes.

“Look.” Sam turned his computer towards Dean who squinted at the brightness.

“What am I looking at?” he yawned.

“Meet the Krampus and the Namahage. Basically, they're the same, but from different cultures. Depending on the lore,” Sam explained, “they both have huge teeth, long claws and make a habit of snatching naughty kids. Kind of like an evil Santa. One's Japanese and the other one's Austrian, but basically, yeah, they're the same.”

“Ok, how do we kill them? “ Dean asked.

“Well, the right question is how do we  _ **find**_  them? They can't be summoned or called. They decide who's naughty or nice—“

“They make a list and then they slice?” Dean finished with a smirk as his brother rolled his eyes.

“Yes, kind of,” Sam replied ignoring Dean's pun. “Okay, so once we've found it we can kill it.”

“Fine, we might want to check if there were other kid abductions, see if there's a pattern,” Dean said.

“Already ahead of you on that. There wasn't any,” Sam replied.

“You mean none that sounded like our kind of gig?”

“That's right,” Sam replied.

“Okay so, can it wait till morning? I need my beauty sleep,” Dean said yawning again.

“I don't think a whole week of sleeping will help with your condition” Sam joked.

“Shut up”, Dean grunted. He turned his back on Sam and went back to sleep, fully clothed.

Sam chuckled, stayed on his computer a few more minutes then went to sleep as well.

**

Dean woke up exhausted for the third time that night.

And about an hour before sunrise, when he couldn’t go back to sleep, he got up and went out as Sam stirred.

Dean had dreamed about Castiel. Apparently, when he was sober that’s all he could do ever since that dreadful night. And yet again, he had dreamed that he was saving him. This time he had grabbed his hand when he came out of the rift and told him to move away from it. Before that, he had jumped to push him away from Lucifer, and before that even, he had left Bizarro world after Castiel making sure the devil was dead. No matter how different the scenarios were, he always ended up saving Cas, and irreversibly when he woke up his friend was still dead and it felt like his heart was bleeding again.

As he was walking mindlessly, he ended up at the liquor store. There, he bought a flask of whiskey, he took a sip and put the small bottle in his inside pocket. Instead of going back to the motel he went to his car.

He decided to go for a ride while waiting for sunrise.

**

When Sam woke up Dean was already back and ready.

“Whoa, apparently you needed more beauty sleep than me!” he said as he chucked his phone at his younger brother.

Sam picked up the phone from his lap and looked quizzically at Dean.

“You’re up early,” he said. “What am I looking for?”

“Second headline, another Houdini kid.”

“What?!” Sam scrolled to said article and read aloud.

_“According to the police, at about midnight last night, a 6 year old girl, was reported as missing. They received a panicked call from the mom Mrs Sandra Hudson who stated that she “put [her] daughter to bed as usual, and a few hours later she was gone”. The police report that her husband who was also in the house alledgedly did not hear anything either. At the time of writing, they were both still being interrogated by the police._

_“This is the third eery disappearance in the area in two weeks, concerning children, and the fourth in total, as we all recall the tragedy that hit the Knights family, two renowned doctors from St Vincent hospital, when their boys disappeared along with their babysitter.”_

Sam looked at his brother.

“Okay, we definitely should go check this out.”

He got up and ready as Dean just sat there waiting. When Sam came out of the shower, he saw his brother smoothing his fingers over his phone with a distant stare.

“You alright?” he asked Dean with a concerned look. Dean’s eyes shot up to him.

“You can sit this one out if you want, I’ll go over to the police station and see what else I can learn. I’ll be back in no time,” Sam finished.

“Pshaw, don’t be stupid Sammy,” Dean said as he got to his feet.

 

**

 

_*At the police station*_

“Agent Taylor and Deacon,” Dean said while showing their badges to the officer.

“We’re here about the Hudson kid,” he added. The officer nodded and led them to the room where Mr Hudson had just finished his interrogation.

“He’s all yours gentlemen,” he said.

A tall man with broad shoulders and a warm mahogany skin looked up to the brothers with weary eyes.

“More questions?” he sighed.

“I’m sorry sir, it won’t take long,” Sam said reassuringly. He sat across the table and Dean chose to stay up.

“Do you need water? Or coffee?” Sam asked.

“Right now something stronger would be more appropriate,” he replied.

Dean sniggered.

“I’m sorry you know we can’t allow that,” Sam smiled.

“Buzzkill,” Dean mumbled. Sam turned around and scowled at his brother. He turned back to face the man.

“So, Mr Terrence Hudson, right?” Sam started. When he nodded the Winchester kept on: “I only have a few questions,” he said. “When you called the police do you know how long your daughter had been missing?”

“Of course not, I called them as soon as I realised she was nowhere to be found,” he replied.

“My wife and I were sound asleep, we only woke up when the baby cried on the monitor. My wife fed him and went to check on our daughter, Eliza. That’s when she found her empty bed. She put the baby back in his crib and called me. We looked for Eliza everywhere! She sleepwalks sometimes, and we’ve already found her sitting on the kitchen counter eating cold turkey straight from the plate, or on the front lawn smelling flowers in the middle of the night. That’s why we set up alarms that go off if she opens the window in her room or if movement is detected in the house when there shouldn’t be any. It sends us a notification on our phones and we know something’s up.”

“And let me guess, no alarms that night?” Dean asked.

“That’s right. Nothing. She just disappeared!” he sobbed.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Sam said, I have a few more questions if you don’t mind, and then unless the police need you, you’re free to go,” he added.

Terrence nodded.

“Do you know anyone who would want to hurt you, your daughter or your family?” Sam asked.

“No, I don’t think so. . . Only a monster would hurt a little girl! She’s such a bundle of joy! You should see her with her yellow pyjamas dancing around to entertain the baby while we’re giving him a bath,” he smiled sadly.

His eyes darted to Sam’s. “Please bring her back!” he cried.

“We’re doing our best, Mr Hudson. Ok, last two questions, has your daughter ever talked to you about a scary man in a hat?” Sam asked.

“No, why? Do you think he’d want to hurt my baby girl?” He held his head in his hands for a few seconds. Sam and Dean stared at him in silence waiting for him to regain his composure. When he looked up his eyes were red and tears were streaming down his cheeks. “Is there a sicko taking our children? Is that what happened to Peter and Julia?”

“Peter and Julia. . . Knight?” Dean asked. “Do you know them?” he continued.

“Why of course, Peter birthed both my children and Julia and I went to high school together!” he exclaimed. “And to think that only two weeks ago they were all enjoying a sleepover together!”

The brothers exchanged a look.

“A sleepover? At your place?” Dean asked.

“No, at the Garrisons’. We all know each other and want our children to grow up as friends, so they regularly have sleepovers.”

“Could we get the Garrisons’ address, please?” Dean interrupted as he slid a writing pad and pen across the table.

“Do you think my family’s in danger? Do I need to protect them?” the father asked after writing the address. He lowered his head “My wife is sick with worry, and here I am having to act all tough and strong, but my baby girl is missing!” He turned to Dean.

“How am I supposed to function when I’m actually broken and falling apart on the inside?” Dean’s heart skipped a beat and he couldn’t utter a word, Sam came to his rescue.

“No one is asking you to be tough,” he said.

Mr Hudson wiped his eyes.

“I know,” he sighed, “I know you’re right, but I can’t afford to fall apart. My wife and my kids are counting on me. My baby girl is counting on her daddy. I have to be strong. My father taught me that men should never cry.”

Sam frowned while Dean looked away with a bitter smile on his face.

“You are allowed to hurt and cry, Mr Hudson. You’re only human, and losing someone so close to you. . .” Sam tried his best to keep his eyes on the man and not glare at Dean. “Like your child. . . This is a terrible ordeal that no one should face alone. You need to open up to your wife and tell her how you feel. You don’t always have to be the strong one, because sometimes, you just can’t.”

A deafening silence fell on the interrogation room and between the three men.

Dean cleared his throat and averted Sam’s stare. His eyes landed on Mr Hudson’s.

“We’ll find your daughter. I promise you. Go and comfort your wife. You’ll be with Eliza in no time.” Dean took the pad with the address and headed to the door. Sam thanked the man and followed his brother without a word.

They reached their car as Mr Hudson was hugging his wife in front of the police station. She was crying heavily and he tried his best to hide his tears from her.

Sam shook his head sadly and Dean looked away.

 

**

 

_*Later that day, in the car, in front of the Garrisons' house*_

Sam was eating a salad with more different seeds than his brother could ever name while said brother was eating a greasy hamburger with extra onions.

“So if you’re right, Hatman should attack some time around midnight?” Dean asked with his mouth full of rare-cooked steak and crispy bacon.

“Well, if we are dealing with a Krampus or a Namahage, I suppose it will attack the Garrison’s tonight yes,” Sam replied.

Dean glanced at his watch “Well that leaves us about four hours before showdown and—“ he sat up straight and squinted. “What are they doing?

Sam turned towards the door and grabbed a pair of binoculars. “I think they’re heading out. . .”

“What? With all their friend’s kids, going missing they’re leaving?”

“You never think it’ll happen to you until it does,” Sam replied.

The Garrisons got to their car and backed away in the alley as a plump babysitter with curly blonde hair was waving goodbye with a kid on her hip.

A few hours later, long after the child had gone to bed, Sam saw a shape behind the curtain upstairs. He nudged Dean in the arm.

“I think it’s here.” He said.

Dean glanced at the clueless babysitter and his eyes shot straight up to the kid’s window.

“I don’t know Sammy, I can’t see any—” Dean opened the door and nearly jumped out of the car, his gun cocked. Without hesitation Sam did too: he had seen it clearly this time.

A tall and distinct shape wearing a hat.

They both ran to the door knocking as calmly as they could. The blonde girl with a baby face opened the door with a broad smile before gasping when she saw the guns. The brothers showed her their badges, motioned her to be silent and asked where the kid’s room was. She raised a trembling finger towards the door upstairs. Sam told her to run for cover.

They barged into the room she indicated, only to see a man wearing a black coat and a hat leaning over a small bed.

Well, “man” wasn’t quite right. The creature had a skeletal face with wispy hair. When it turned and hissed to the brothers, they managed to catch a glimpse at its blank eyes and his prominent jaw. It instantly charged at Dean who fired his gun but that didn’t seem to bother it the least.

Its claws were as sharps as razors and they easily tore through Dean’s clothes. The hunter clenched his teeth at the stinging feeling as bloodstains appeared on his t-shirt. Sam tried to grab the creature by its shoulders in an attempt to release Dean, but it sent him flying across the room effortlessly. Sam landed with a loud crash. The creature turned to the boy who hadn’t moved from his spot on the bed. It grabbed the curly blonde child who was now screaming his head off and dragged him behind it and towards the closet.

Despite his dizziness, Sam stood up and fired two shots at the creatures but, once again, it didn’t seem to care. It smiled a sickening smile at the younger Winchester showing its tusk-like teeth. And before Sam could fire another shot it disappeared into the closet dragging the poor boy along. A few milliseconds before the door closed Dean jumped on the creature.

Sam ran to the door and pulled it wide open.

Nothing.

The closet was empty.

His brother was gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the monster they saw:  
> 
> 
> Yes, it's scary AF, yes the image is from Buffy ^^
> 
> I hope you like it :)


	6. Underground

Sam grunted in frustration.

“Goddammit, Dean!” He looked thoroughly into the closet even though he knew it was a waste of time.

He tried to find clues about where the three of them could have vanished, but there was nothing there.

He went back downstairs where the babysitter was crying all curled up on the couch. She stood up as soon as he entered the living room, her eyes begging for an answer to the question she didn’t dare to ask.

“I’m so sorry, but you need to call your employer, their child is missing,” Sam said. The babysitter gasped covering her mouth with her hands and collapsed on the floor, a blubbering mess.

Sam kneeled beside her.

“I’m very sorry, my partner and I are doing our best to find him and the other missing kids,” he added. She hugged him as she sobbed loudly on his shoulder. Sam hugged her back.

“My partner’s with him at the moment. Benjamin, is that right?” She nodded.

“Well, he’s in good hands, Dean won’t let anything happen to him, I can promise you that.”

She nodded as she was calming down. She sniffled and wiped her nose.

“I really think you should call your employers, now. I’m agent Deacon, and my partner is agent Taylor.”

As she grabbed her phone to call little Benjamin’s parents, Sam took a few step away from her, pulled out his own phone and scrolled down to Dean’s name.

“Come on, Dean,” he mumbled through gritted teeth.

 

**

 

A heavy guitar riff.

Dean reached for his phone on the bedside table and tried to silence it by smashing it. He missed the phone but his movement was welcomed by a sharp scream. He opened his eyes as the guitar stopped playing and the first thing they met was a pair of huge bulgy purple eyes staring back at him unblinkingly. Startled, he punched them. To his surprise, the same shrilling noise busted his eardrums as the bulgy eyes were sent off flying far away from him.

He was lying on his stomach and the second thing he noticed was an earthy taste on his dried lips. He pushed on his arms painstakingly, sat up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as his eyes settled on his surroundings.

He was sitting in an unknown dark place, to which his eyes hadn’t quite adjusted yet. The only light came from a tunnel on the right that seemed to lead deep in the ground, beyond some bars. The floor wasn’t floor but dirt, which he knew already, given the lingering taste in his mouth. His eyes landed on a small girl with thick and frizzy black hair wearing yellow onesies. She was staring at him grudgingly while petting some animal.

He motioned towards her to apologise, as he figured she was the origin of the shrill noise from before. But his eyes caught a glimpse of a small lump of clothes with curly blond hair shaking with sobs in a corner. He turned to the girl again but she was still glaring at him and Dean decided he’d be better off talking to the angel-faced little boy.

“Are you okay, buddy?” he asked crouching next to him. No reply from the boy. “Are you Benjamin?” the boy looked up with big and gleaming blue eyes. He nodded slowly.

“I’m Dean. Remember me? I was in your room. I’m here to save you.” He heard movement behind him. The little black girl was kneeling closer to him visibly intrigued. “And you,” he added. “You must be Eliza?”

The girl nodded timidly.

“It’s okay, I’m here for you too. I saw your daddy today, and he told me everything about you. You like your baby brother don’t you? And you do a little dance for him when he’s having a bath?”

Eliza’s small face scrunched up with intense reflexion but she finally decided she could trust him and smiled. Dean squinted at the darkness.

“I’m sorry for your...Pet?” he said.

Eliza reached out presenting a stuffed toy of a bright blue colour.

“Angus is not a pet. He’s a dragon,” she said proudly, “he protects me and my friends.”

She got to her feet and handed out the plushie to the poor weeping boy.

“There, Ben. Take him, he will protect you if you promise to give him candies,” she turned to Dean and whispered: “he loves candies, but Mamma says it’s not good for your teeth and it gives you vakkities.”

She turned to the little blond boy again and whispered something in his ear that only children whisper to each other in secret and the boy finally smiled faintly and hugged the dragon. Eliza sat beside him and put her arm around his shoulders as she flashed a bright smile at Dean who couldn’t help but smile back.

He looked around to try and assess how they would get out of here, wherever “here” was. There was nothing but dirt and pipes some were hot to the touch and others were quite cold, and they seem to be running everywhere. Sometimes they'd disappear in the ceiling only to reappear a few feet away.

That’s when he heard it. A brittle voice. “Please, help us,” the voice said.

Dean turned swiftly trying to locate where it was coming from. The darkness made it rather difficult but he finally spotted four white and frail fingers coming out of a crevice in the wall. He ran to them as much as the low ceiling allowed it.

He grasped the fingers which grasped him in return. The hand was trembling but held on.

When Dean took a closer look at the wall, he saw icy blue eyes looking back at him, widened in terror and disbelief. They were staring at him holding his gaze like a drifting person held on to a lifeboat.

“Cas?!” he croaked as his grip tightened. Of course, he knew it defied all logic, how had Cas arrived in this dump? But the angel had come back to him so many times that Dean half-expected to see him every time he turned a corner. Didn’t he spot the familiar trench coat in a crowd earlier that day? Of course, at that point, he had thought his mind was playing tricks on him, but now that those eyes, those deep blue eyes were finally staring back at him, his heart was swelling in his chest.

“Cas?” a female voice replied. “No, I’m Lucy. I’m here with Griffin.”

As quickly as his spirits had risen, his heart shattered.

Those eyes weren’t his angel’s: they were the wrong shade of blue and they even frowned when he had pronounced his best friend’s name.

Swallowing hard, Dean asked: “Are you all right?”

“We’re thirsty, Nathan’s missing but we’re alive.”

“Okay,” Dean replied, “do you know what this thing wants?” he asked.

“No, it took us here... Have you seen his face? What’s wrong with his face?” she was starting to panic and Dean heard whining from both sides of the wall.

“Please keep your calm,” he whispered, “we’ve got very young kids here, and we need to keep calm for them. Do you think you can do this?”

He heard Lucy sniffling on the other side. “Yes,” she breathed out.

Dean let go of her hand “Okay, I’ll try and get us out of here now. Go and reassure Griffin.”

He went back to the two kids on his side of the wall. Benjamin had stopped crying and Eliza was telling him stories that made his smile weakly.

He crouched beside the pair of them.

“What can you tell me about the man in the hat?”

Eliza quivered, but she spoke nonetheless:

“He’s big and he’s got scary scary eyes. His teeth are huge” she exaggerated the size of the teeth opening her arms wide. “And...” her voice trailed off as her eyes got distant.

“And?” Dean asked with anticipation.

“And he wants to kill us!” She rushed to Dean’s arms breaking down in tears.

Dean caught her with a “humph” and patted her hair as her small arms held tight to his neck.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” He said soothingly. “I’m here now.” Benjamin also joined in the hug and tears.

Dean tried to calm them both with some “shh” and “it’s okay” but nothing seemed to work. He had no idea how long they stayed like this, but at some point, when he reckoned it was safe to talk again, he said: “I’m here now and I won’t let anything happen to you, okay?” They both looked up, two pairs of gleaming eyes in the dark piercing right through his soul.

“Now do you remember anything that he said or did?”

For the first time since Dean had arrived, Benjamin talked and said, rather gloomily: “He said we’d all float here.”

Dean frowned. “He did?”

The curly blond boy nodded. Dean stood up and went to the bars that held them prisoners and finally remembered... His phone! It was ringing earlier! Sammy must be looking for him at the moment, and he must have tried to call him.

He went back to where he had woken up and found his phone. One missed call from Sam.

He switched on the screen.

“Two bars! Yes!” he exclaimed.

He tapped on his brother’s name hoping he’d get through.

 

**

 

As for Sam, he was far from idle.

He had waited with the babysitter for the Garrisons to come home.

He had then explained to them what had happened, leaving out the supernatural obviously.

After that, he had gone back to the motel and had started researching.

There, Sam tried every relevant combination of words in the search bar, but with no result.

He called a few hunter acquaintances, but no one had ever heard of anything like the creature he saw.

He felt the urge to call Bobby, but obviously, he couldn’t, and that meeting beyond the rip with his doppelganger in Bizarro world had made it even more difficult for Sam. It had dawned on him that this version of Bobby didn’t know them and didn’t feel in any way close to them. It was like losing him all over again.

He could call Garth, but the latter was happy with his pack, or so Sam hoped, given the recent Men of Letters habit to kill everyone they liked. He sighed deeply. One name popped in his head.

Eileen.

“ _What a waste,_ ” he thought.

That when it hit him. How utterly alone he was. His friends were all dead or hiding, with no mean to reach them, his mom was gone, and his brother was missing. Had he wanted to pick his phone to talk to someone he was incapable of thinking of anyone to call. They were gone. All of them. And he was left alone and miserable.

Even with Dean the day after everything went down, he had never felt so lonely. Dean had closed himself to the world and to him. Of course, Sam understood. Dean had lost Cas when they were finally out of the woods and reunited and when they had a glimpse at a bright future, and it hurt all the more to have him die in front of his eyes. But Sam too had lost his best friend and his mom that night, and he needed his brother more than ever. They were in this together, but Dean was too wrapped up in his own pain and sorrow to even acknowledge Sam’s.

The younger Winchester felt rancour towards his brother bubbling up inside of him but he tried to repress it.

That’s when his phone rang.

Dean’s name appeared on the bright screen and Sam picked up hurriedly.

“Dean? Where are you? Are you okay?” he asked without even letting his brother reply.

 _“I’m good Sa—y”_ Dean’s voice replied. “ _Lis—en, I’m wi—iza and Ben— amin. Lucy the second b— ere too_ — ”

“Wait, wait, Dean!” Sam interrupted,  “I can’t hear you, where are you?”

“ _I d—know. I’m definitely under—_ “ Dean replied.

“Under what?” Sam asked.

“ _Under—_ ” Dean replied still cutting in and out.

“Dean! I don’t get it! Under what?” Sam urged.

“ _Ground! GROUND! I’m underground!_ ” Dean finally said clearly. “ _The kids are —ith me too. And so is Lucy._ ” He added.

“Yes, I got that the first time. Are you in the sewers?”

“ _I don’t know. Mayb—It’s kind of —ike tunnels with pipes everywhere, I think for now I'm in a c—age. But Sammy, I feel like I’ve— it somewhe—._ ” The call ended abruptly.

“Dean? Dean!” Sam put his phone down violently on the table in frustration.

He picked it up right away, tried his brother’s number and gave up after the third time he went straight to voicemail.

He exhaled loudly.

“Okay. Sewers, maybe,” he said, thinking. “With tunnels... Well, that’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

He had seen something in a book about needles in haystacks... What was it again?

_“If you’re looking for a needle in a haystack, just burn the hay and hold a magnet over the ashes.”_

“So, how do I burn the metaphorical hay and find the Dean-shaped needle now?” He wondered out loud.

 

**

 

“Sam? Sammy?!” Dean looked at his phone. Dead.

“Awesome,” he grumbled.

As he put away his phone, he went to the bars he had seen earlier. He felt his lockpick making a lump in his inside pocket and smirked. After only a few seconds, the lock gave in with a distinct “click” and he opened the creaking door. A tiny hand sneaked into his own, and without looking down he just pressed it as he took a left turn.

As far as he could see, the tunnel was dark and a faint but unprepossessing smell of excrements and rotten food came from that direction, he scrunched up his nose in disgust.

On his left, Dean made out a similar cage door to his, right where he expected it to be. Before he reached it, curly blond hair ran past him. Benjamin grabbed the bars at the same time Lucy did.

She was in a poor condition. Her clothes were filthy and she had a dark and flaky mark over her right eyebrow that spread to her temple. Her black hair, which one could guess was usually shiny and silky was now damp and sticking to her pale cheeks in some areas. She was barefoot, her jeans were ripped and the way she held her swollen tattooed right wrist close to her chest left no doubt as to its broken state. Finally, her chapped lips gave away the thirst she had been complaining about, but despite all this, and past her haggard look, a fierce spark was gleaming behind her cerulean eyes. In other circumstances, Dean would have found her quite attractive.

Without a word, the hunter started to unlock the cage door.

“Thank you,” she said in a hoarse voice grabbing Dean’s hand through the bars in an attempt to meet his eyes. “Thank you.”

A single tear rolled down her face and Dean glanced at her piercing eyes but looked back down at the lock. He cleared his throat.

“Don’t mention it,” he replied. Lucy took her hand off of Dean’s and took a few steps back in silence. If her face had lit up when he was picking the lock it was now back to a gloomy expression.

After the familiar click, Dean pulled the door open and Lucy came out carrying Griffin with her one good arm. The boy wasn’t in a better condition than his babysitter. He obviously had been crying for days, and he looked on the verge of passing out.

“How long have we been here?” Lucy finally asked breaking the heavy silence.

“Two weeks,” Dean replied. His eyes landed on Griffin “Is he okay?”

Lucy’s eyes filled up with tears as she managed “I don’t know.”

Griffin nested himself in Lucy’s arm as he whispered something in her ear. Her eyes darted to Dean’s.

“He saw the monster take Nathan when I was knocked out,” she told him. “We heard him a few days ago.”

Griffin started to cry.

“He took him to the smelly tunnel! He’ll be back soon. He’s coming to get us,” Griffin whimpered.

Sure enough, footsteps were approaching from the dark tunnel ahead. Dean grabbed Eliza and Benjamin and urged Lucy to go first in the opposite direction.

They ran for several minutes when Lucy begged Dean to stop. She was out of breath and judging by her stagger she was about to faint.

Dean put down Eliza and Benjamin and crouched beside them.

“Do you think you can run?” he asked them. They nodded, unsure, as they unconsciously got closer to each other. He turned to look at Lucy and added to the kids:

“She needs help, I’ll carry her.”

“No I’m good,” Lucy protested, but the way she was leaning on the wall said otherwise. Griffin leapt from her arm and tugged on Dean’s sleeve.

“Carry her, we'll run” he pleaded. And that was decided.

Eliza and Benjamin walked to Griffin as the angel-faced boy gave the plushie dragon to his friend.

“He’ll protect you, you’ll see,” Eliza explained. “It worked for me!”

All three children smiled and Dean knew they could run again. Dean grabbed Lucy as she was too weak to protest anymore anyway.

While Dean ran blindly forward carrying the babysitter in his arms, she was talking nonsense.

After five minutes, the hunter could finally make out words from Lucy’s half-delirious speech.

“We’ll dance with the Devil in the pale moonlight,” she whispered.

Out of breath, Dean came to a halt.

“Come again?” he asked confused. But she had fainted.

Dean put her down as the kids gathered around her.

“Why are we stopping?” Eliza asked.

“He’ll catch up with us,” Benjamin panicked.

“We can’t stop here, he’ll be there soon!” Griffin said mirroring Benjamin’s panic.

“Is she all right?” Eliza asked.

“But he dragged Nathan in the opposite direction!” Griffin cried.

Dean pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Shut up!” he said a bit too harshly. They all fell quiet but they looked at him half-scared half-grudgingly.

“I’m sorry I... I’m trying to think here, just— Just be quiet okay?” he huffed.

The children took a few step back and crouched together around Eliza’s dragon.

Something had caught Dean's attention, he knew it. Something... Something he had noticed at some point. It was right under his nose, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Was it something he had seen? Or maybe heard? What had he heard? He listened to the tunnel from whence they came. No footsteps. They had shaken the monster off, at least for a while.

So what were their options? They couldn’t decently leave Nathan behind. But was he even alive? It had been two weeks. But Lucy and Griffin were alive, though not in a good shape... Could he bring them all to safety and come back for Nathan? He doubted it. He’d have to either leave them here or take them with him and none of those options seemed very safe. He listened to their conversation, how they were having a conversation in such a situation was beyond his understanding.

“... in the sewers. And that’s where it got them,” Griffin finished. “And now we’re trapped too. And it’s coming for us.”

“But we have Angus. Angus will protect us.” Eliza replied. “Daddy said Angus will always protect me and scare the monsters away!” she added frowning fiercely.

Benjamin petted the dragon shyly but smiled anyway.

“Don’t be stupid Lizzie,” Griffin said harshly. “Your dragon is just a plushie toy. It won’t protect you from the monster.”

Eliza hugged her dragon protectively,

“Well, he won’t protect **_you_** , now!" She had screamed at the top of her voice making Benjamin weep with anxiety.

“Don’t say this!” he pleaded, “he will protect him too, he’s a good dragon!”

Griffin got to his feet ready to throw a tantrum.

“I’m fed up with you guys!” he shouted. “You’re all a bunch of crybabies! Ready to believe whatever story you hear! But this is real, it’s all real! This is not a dream, this is really happening! Monsters are real and blue plushie dragons can’t protect you! Nowhere to run this time guys... No escape”

Dean froze.

“The monster’s coming to get all of us and there’s nothing we can do about it. You need to—” he gasped. Footsteps were so close now. All the screaming had led the monster straight to them.

Dean motioned them silently to take cover as he carried Lucy into a dark spot opposite theirs.

The monster walked past them but stopped a few steps further. Dean read into the kids’ eyes that they knew it was going to get them all.

The monster slowly came back stepping once again into the light revealing his deadly face under his hat. Eliza's shrill scream rang throughout the tunnels giving away the kids’ position. Before Dean could try anything, the creature was all over them and draped them in darkness.

They vanished in front of Dean’s eyes and apart from him and the knocked-out babysitter, the tunnel was empty.

 It was hard to believe three kids had been hiding there just a few seconds before.


	7. Nightmares, Dragons, and Misconceptions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG!! The show's back and I'm so happy! I cried. Obviously, I cried. BUT I didn't only cry for the episode: I cried because they actually wrote in a scene I wrote 5 months ago ♥
> 
> Line from my fic (posted on May 21):  
> "Rowena’s dead, Crowley’s dead, Mom’s gone and Cas is—“ it was too hard to even formulate the thought.
> 
> Actual line from the show (released on October 12):  
> "Crowley is dead, Kelly is dead, Cas is …, Mom is gone"
> 
> I mean... Right? RIGHT? Sorry I know I shouldn't brag, but it felt so weird watching the scene I wrote actually happen on the show!  
> Oh and also Cas's burial/incineration: Dean can't make a speech, Sam does. Haha I wrote that!  
> And the blank look on Dean's face, the feeling of "hollowness" gosh, this was pure gold, it felt as though I was watching my imagination come to life ♥
> 
> Anyways, this is the last chapter for Part one in the Somewhere Over the Rip (SOtR) series and I hope you'll enjoy it, please please comment ♥

“Fuck!” Dean grunted in frustration.

He took a deep breath. On the bright side, he was down with only one option. He now had to go back, no choice there. He reached for a pipe above his head and collected some water in his hands; he then kneeled beside Lucy and wetted her face.

“Wake up,” he said, gently brushing his fingers on her delicate but bruised face.

“You need to wake up, the kids need you. You have to be strong”.

Lucy slowly opened her eyes. Dean used his hands to gather more water from the pipe and brought them to her mouth.

She grasped his hands and drank greedily. She let him go and wiped her mouth.

“What happened?” she asked hoarsely. And upon the sudden realisation that they were alone, she tried to get up in a panic. “Where are the children? Where’s Griffin?”

Dean held her down, forcing her to remain calm. He looked directly at her as he held her shoulder and said: “I’ll get them back, I promise. The monster, it got them. But I’ll get them back.”

He let go of her shoulders.

“You need to rest here and drink,” he said soothingly. “If at some point you feel better, I’m pretty sure the exit’s that way,” he pointed straight ahead.

“Look for the first motel you find in the yellow pages and ask for Jim Rockford.  That’s my brother, his name’s Sam, but that’s how we find each other. Tell him everything. He’ll know what to do.”

A look of panic flashed through Lucy’s eyes.

“You’re not going to leave me here alone, are you?”

Dean sighed. “Look, if I had a choice I wouldn’t. But right now, I think you’re safer here. The monster won’t come after you, it obviously wants the kids and I won’t let it have them. But I need to go now,” he insisted on that last word as he got up.

Lucy grasped Dean’s wrist as she was about to dissuade him, but she decided otherwise and nodded silently. Dean looked down the dark tunnel and turned to glance back at Lucy before departing.

“First motel. Jim Rockford. Got it?” he asked.

Lucy nodded again and Dean left to walk down the tunnel.

He cocked his gun, even though it was useless, but feeling the ivory grip in his hand was comforting.

After a few minutes, he finally passed both cages. From there on, the smell was nauseating, and it only became worse as he went forward. That could only mean one thing: he was on the right track. Sure enough, he heard a faint cry. At least one kid was still alive.

After a sharp turn to the right, the tunnel fed into a surprisingly wide room. Eliza and Benjamin were both curled up in a corner crying. The little girl was hugging her dragon tightly, while the creature was busy tying Griffin to a slab. The poor boy was screaming his head off and squirming every which way possible. The monster had tied him up in such a way that Griffin could not move his legs or arms, nor could he turn his head or blink for it had put specula on his eyes.

Finally, Dean located Nathan. He was lying on the floor and looked like a pile of rags covered in blood. From afar the hunter couldn’t make out whether he was alive or not.

“You know,” the monster hissed to Griffin as it sniffed his neck. “I can smell the exquisite stench of what you really are. And what you are is terrified.”

It smiled a horrible smile.

“The more you scream, the more delicious you smell.” He let out a raspy laugh and used his long claws to tear away a shred of skin on Griffin’s forearm and ate it with delight.

The boy screamed in pain. This was Dean’s cue. He came in gun blazing. The creature slowly turned around, more amused than surprised.

“Don’t you get it by now? This won’t work on me,” it snarled.

“Shocker,” Dean sneered. “So what? Are you trying to scare me? Do you want me to pray to God?” he said sarcastically.

“Do I look like someone who cares what God thinks?”

Dean’s eyes widened as it dawned on him.

“Son of a b—!” Dean hadn’t even finished cursing that he was slammed hard against the opposite wall, a few feet away from Eliza and Benjamin. The little girl screamed and ran to Dean as he landed heavily on the ground. She gripped his hand. Dean forced a smile and whispered:

“You hold onto your dragon okay? He’s magical and he will protect you and all your friends. You do trust me, don’t you?”

Eliza was about to protest that she knew Angus was useless, but Dean winked at her; and because a wink was so odd in those dire circumstances, she knew the hunter had a plan, and she knew they were safe, as long as she kept her dragon close.

The monster grabbed Dean’s hair, which made him grunt in pain. He was sent flying across the room again and landed painfully against the slab which toppled over with a loud clang. Before he scramble to his feet the monster was overpowering him.

It clawed at Dean’s chest exactly where it did in Benjamin’s bedroom. It then licked the hunter’s blood from its fingers emitting a repugnant sucking noise.

“I know what you are!” Dean said between his gritted teeth.

 “I'm every nightmare you've ever had. I'm your—”

“Let me guess,” Dean interrupted “You’re my worst dream come true?” he sniggered.

The monster stopped dead in its tracks which allowed Dean to continue.

“See, I knew there was something about you”, Dean said as he attempted to kick himself free.

“You looked way too familiar, and those things you say? Come on, I’m a big fan!”

Dean was smiling broadly but his smile quickly turned into a wince when the monster started ripping shreds of flesh feasting with delight. Dean tried to free himself from underneath the monster but he couldn’t. The claws dug deeper and the hunter let out a scream.

“Please stop,” Griffin blurted between sobs. He was still attached to the slab and when it had fallen over, he had come face to face with horror.

His baby brother’s face was just a few inches away from his and was taunting him with a blank and lifeless stare. His mouth was open in a last silent scream as his tongue had been half-ripped out. In that moment Griffin thought that he looked like a silly dog and was so angry at Nathan for looking so stupid in death.

Griffin couldn’t even cry or avert his eyes because of the specula holding his eyelids open. He had no choice but to look straight at his brother’s dead face.

“Nathan...” he uttered through tearless sobs.

The monster smirked showing his horrendous teeth.

 “If you know what I am, then you know I can’t be killed,” it said. It leaned closer to Dean and whispered in his ear.

“Oh and Dean... Your angel’s in here. Would you like to leave a message? I'll see that he gets it.”

Dean lost it. There was only so much he could take. His blood was boiling with anger and he managed to free his left arm. He elbowed the monster right in the face and started punching blindly in pure wrath and frustration, the blows landing wherever. The creature grabbed Dean’s hair and slammed his head once against the ground. A flaring pain spread at the back of his skull with a blinding whiteness. Dean still managed to land one last blow on his opponent’s face. The second time the monster slammed his head on the floor, Dean was knocked unconscious.

 

**

 

After the phone call ended with Dean, Sam had decided to try and locate his brother. He didn’t have much to go on but he had some ideas. Tunnels with pipes everywhere... Maybe water pipes? His brother might be underneath a water treatment facility? He had looked it up and had indeed found one on the outskirt of town. Surely the sewers were all leading there anyway. That’s why he decided to park two blocks away and to walk underground from there.

After what seemed to be a good fifteen minutes, he nearly ran into a young woman. She screamed as she wasn’t expecting to meet anyone in the tunnels and fell down to her knees, clearly very weak. Sam kneeled beside her.

“Are you okay?” he asked gently, “I’m sorry I scared you.”

Sam searched her face trying to assess her state. She had long black hair and had a cut on her forehead. She obviously had been through some rough moments. He softly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as he tried to make eye contact with her. The young woman, who was holding her wrist close to her chest, looked up into Sam’s compassionate eyes. She smiled wearily and suddenly a spark lit up behind her eyes.

“Are you Jim?” she asked, hopeful.

Sam lifted an eyebrow.

“Jim Rockford?” she clarified.

“Oh, yes that’s me. I mean—No. I’m Sam,” he corrected, “I take it you met my brother? Dean?”

“YES! Yes, I did! He told me to go and find you! I’m Lucy,” she nearly broke down in tears with relief.

“The babysitter, Lucy?”

She nodded.

“Ok Lucy, and where’s my brother now?” Sam asked.

She got to her feet and peered at the tunnel from whence she came.

“He went back that way,” she replied gloomily. “The monster, it took the children, so he went after them,” she finished.

Sam took out the car keys and handed them to Lucy.

“Just walk up that tunnel you’ll get to a ladder. Outside you’ll find a black Chevy Impala. Just wait for me there,” he said.

“Are you going to leave me here too?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, I have to go after my brother. He might need my help. We’ll come back and we’ll take you home.”

He took a few steps in the direction she had indicated, but he noticed the babysitter hadn’t moved. He spun around. Lucy still had her hand out with the keys, obviously not convinced with Sam’s words.

“Your brother already told me he’d get them back,” she said.

Sam walked back towards her.

“Well then, that makes two of us. I promise we’ll come back with them all,” he said softly with wide puppy eyes. “Trust me, we’re not easy to kill. If we say we’re coming back, then we are.”

He squeezed her shoulder comfortingly and smiled warmly.

“Oh and don’t go anywhere with the car, my brother would kill me if I told him I lost her,” he added.

Lucy smiled back and turned away from Sam.

“If she’s a 67 Chevy Impala, I can’t promise anything,” she said mischievously over her shoulder. Sam chuckled as she disappeared into the tunnel. In other circumstances, Sam would have found her quite attractive.

He exhaled and headed down the same tunnel Dean had walked. He too passed the cages and figured that was where Dean had called him from.

Ultimately he also reached the wide room.

The monster was leaning over a boy who couldn’t even scream anymore. He was just crying in silence, waiting for his fate to strike. On another slab, Dean was lying on his back, unconscious, his head facing Sam’s direction.

Sam gritted his teeth as he assessed the situation. Two kids were chained up against a wall crying and there was a pile of fabric covered in blood in a corner.

The monster was slowly peeling the skin off of the boy’s arm an eating the flesh on the spot. The poor boy let out a loud sob which woke Dean up. As he opened his eyes, he caught an upside-down glimpse of Sam.

Dean yanked on the leather restraints that were pinning him down. It caught the monster’s attention which came close to Dean breathing directly in his face. The older hunter tried to look away but he couldn’t move his head.

“Dude you need a mint,” he said scrunching his nose. “I mean seriously, what have you been eating? Compost?”

“Don’t talk back to me. I am the monster that breathing men would kill. I am—” the creature started.

“No, you’re the monster that would kill breathing men,” Dean said with a smirk. The creature let out a growl and scratched a deep gash into Dean’s face. The hunter grunted as blood was streaming from his cheek.

“I am death,” the monster finished in a low growl.

“Oh cut it out!” Dean interrupted him again. “That’s from Dracula! And one more thing: I’ve met— and killed-- Death for that matter. And you look  ** _nothing_**  like him. He had class. You’re just a bad rerun of every monster movie ever created.”

He was clearly trying to draw the monster’s attention allowing Sam to sneak towards the two chained children and set them free.

The monster straightened up.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked with a threatening hiss. Sam turned to the creature only to realise it had moved freakishly fast and in a blink of an eye it was now standing a few inches away from his face.

The monster grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall.

Dean desperately tried to sit up when he heard the ruckus they made.

“SAMMY?!” Dean shouted, “what’s happening?!” he yanked so hard on the restraints that he toppled his slab. He grunted when he landed on the floor but at least his right hand was free. He then started to free his other hand and his head.

The grip tightened on Sam’s throat and he was slowly but surely suffocating. The air was leaving his lungs and just when he was seeing white spots, and was about to pass out, the monster let out a guttural scream and let go of him. The younger Winchester fell on the ground gasping for air.

The creature turned its feral glare towards Eliza who was standing defiantly beside Sam, holding Benjamin’s hand with her left hand and her plush dragon in front of her with her right hand.

The monster slowly headed towards her and she lowered her arm as she seemed to be losing her confidence. The creature was over Eliza and was grabbing her wrist with its claws as she screamed.

“What have you done you foolish girl?” it spat.

As Dean was finally getting rid of the restraints on his ankles, he looked over to Eliza.

“Don’t let go of your dragon,” he shouted as he got to his feet once again. “You saw what it did! It’s scared of it! Look!”

Despite the claws digging into her forearm and the blood slowly trickling from the wound the little girl held her arm higher.

The creature let go of her and backed away, Dean swiftly reached Eliza. He put his hand on hers.

“May I?” he asked. The little girl nodded.

Dean took the blue soft toy and walked towards the monster holding the dragon in front of him.

Dean smirked when he saw the creature was losing its haughtiness.

“See, you’re too obvious. And your face, dude! I’ve seen that face,” Dean said with confidence. He took a step closer.

“That’s the thing, though, it took me a while, but I realised that everything you say is a fucking line. I’ve seen all those movies. And the tattoo? I nearly missed it.”

Dean walked straight towards the monster still holding out the plushie toy.

“But now I get it. You’re not real. You’re just a story. And you stupid son of a bitch are scared of Angus, Eliza’s magic dragon,” he said with a smirk. “Petrified with fear even... Wouldn’t you say so, Eliza? Ben?” Eliza was holding her wounded forearm but she nodded eagerly, and so did Benjamin.

“And if I touch you with this, you’ll feel an excruciating pain. Am I still right, kids?” and he put his words into action, but nothing happened. The monster smirked. Dean turned to look at both kids. They were frowning.

“What’s happening?” he whispered.

“What does it mean,” Benjamin asked.

“Oh,” Dean said. “It means it will burn it, and it will hurt a lot!”

Both kids nodded vigorously.

Dean applied the dragon onto the monster neck and smoke arose from the point of contact as it yelled in pain.

 “Oh, and of course, it can kill you. Right?” Dean asked over his shoulder. Again the children nodded.

Sam got up.

“Dean what are you doing?” he asked confused.

“Trust me on this, Sammy,” Dean replied.

The monster couldn’t move anymore.

 “So, you are indeed every nightmare coming true, and yes, you’re actually those kids’ worse dream, but guess what...” Dean said.

“You’re just that. A nightmare. And once you’re gone, everything will be back to normal. You’ll just be a scary story that looked like a Buffy monster, and no one you hurt will be permanently maimed.”

He turned to the kids, “That means none of us would have been hurt too seriously, okay?”

Both Eliza and Benjamin nodded.

Dean got closer to the monster which looked panicked.

And like in slow motion, Dean gathered speed and landed a right hook into the horrific face with the plushie blue dragon.

The creature screamed and hissed unnaturally as its face melted down. In a desperate attempt it smacked Dean right in the face before consuming itself completely leaving nothing else behind but a bubbling mess on the ground.

Eliza and Benjamin both cheered. They ran to Dean who was sullenly feeling his chin and making sure his teeth were alright as Sam reached him.

“What was—” the latter started, confused.

“Told you it was a tulpa!” Dean exclaimed.

“Oh,” was the only thing that came to Sam’s mind.

Dean crouched at the children’s level and they both wrapped their tiny arms around his neck in a heartfelt hug. He hugged them back then got up. He handed Angus back to Eliza and patted her head.

A ruckus came up from behind them followed by a sharp scream and cries.

“Nathan!! He moved!!”

They all hurried towards the slab to which Griffin was still attached.

 “I got you, buddy,” Sam said. He carefully took the specula out of Griffin’s eyes, untied him and carried him down the slab while Dean helped Nathan up on his feet.

As soon as Griffin was freed he grabbed his baby brother and cried his eyes out. The younger boy looked utterly clueless.

“Why are you crying?” he asked Griffin.

The older boy laughed through his tears and held Nathan closer. He finally let go of him only to gaze at his colourful face with pink cheeks, lively hazel eyes and innocent grin. He was trying his best to erase the ghastly image of his dead brother from his memory, and apart from bruises here and there and the blood covering his clothes, Nathan looked good as new.

Griffin ruffled Nathan’s hair.

“Let’s go home,” he said. And he led the way back through the tunnels not letting go of his brother’s hand.

Dean too felt much better. The stinging pain in his chest and cheek from the tulpa’s claws had disappeared. His chin was still painful from that last blow and he could feel a lump forming at the back of his head, but nothing too serious. Walking up the tunnels, he glanced at the kids, assessing their state: the strings of skin the creature had been eating from Griffin’s arm or the torn flesh into Eliza’s forearm were gone too. But their clothes were definitely fit for the bin.

For the last minutes of the walk back, it was Dean who brought up the conversation.

“So, who’s a horror flick fan?” he asked.

Silence.

“Well, I used to love them but now I’ve survived one, there’s no way I’d ever watch one again!” Griffin said.

“Well that creature, the tulpa, it fed on your fear and knowledge of movies. That’s why I felt like I knew it,” Dean explained. “All those sentences, they were lines from famous movies!”

“Oh! That’s why you said that!” Sam exclaimed.

Dean raised an eyebrow.

“You said it looked like a monster from Buffy. That’s where I’ve seen it! It’s the one that kills children... What was it? ... Der Kindestod!” Sam recalled.

They finally arrived at the ladder. Both brothers helped the children climb and then climbed themselves.

Sam was relieved when he saw that the Impala was still there, but he couldn’t spot Lucy and frowned.

When they reached the car, Dean grazed it with his fingertips.

“Ah Baby, you’re a sight for sore eyes—”

“Thank you,” said a playful voice. Dean looked up and met Lucy’s eyes. She looked better than when he had left her.

“Oh, hey! I’m glad to see you t—”

“Nathan! Griffin!” she cried happily as the two brothers ran to her arms. She hugged them tightly with tears prickling in her eyes. Eliza and Benjamin joined in the group hug. They were all laughing and crying. The children were trying to explain all at the same time what they had been through, while Lucy was overwhelmed with information.

Sam cleared his throat. She stood up.

“Sam, you kept your promise. I like that in a guy.” She smiled warmly as she squeezed his arm fondly.

“Yeah, um... I told you. So, I see that you didn’t steal my brother’s car, good!” he joked.

“What?” Dean exclaimed.

“Nah, don’t worry I went to get some help, but you wouldn’t believe how dead this part of town is! And let me tell you without my phone or my shoes, I couldn’t get too far anyway.”

Both she and Sam chuckled. She shook her wrist showing it off to Sam.

“At least I’m all better now.”

“Sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds, but I think some kids want to see their mommy and daddy,” said Dean.

Dean sat behind the wheel and Sam rode shotgun. Lucy went to seat in the backseat cuddling with Nathan on her lap, and the three remaining kids sat beside her.  Nathan fell asleep almost instantly, and the rest followed soon after.

“But what I don’t understand,” Lucy whispered careful not to wake the kids, “is why them? Why us? Every child believes in monsters, but they never actually meet them, do they?” she asked.

“No, of course not, there had to be a symbol somewhere,” Sam replied, “a drawn or painted symbol. And it must have been in contact with the kids too so that it could feed on their beliefs.”

 “But where could they have found such a painting?” Lucy asked running her hand through her hair. 

Dean glanced at her in the rearview mirror.

“That’s a nice tattoo you’ve got here, is it new?”

“Yes, my ex and I wanted to get the same one during our last trip to Tibet. It was supposed to be romantic,” she sighed.

Sam turned to take a look at her wrist. He gaped. How could he have been so blind? Dean smirked.

“I ended up being the only one getting it. We hadn’t even left the airport home when we broke up. I guess the tattoo wasn’t such a great idea after all...” she concluded.

“It was an even worse idea than you think,” Sam started.

“Lucy, tulpas are Tibetan. Whatever you thought that symbol meant it didn’t,” he explained. “It’s actually a powerful magical symbol that can create anything really, and I suppose you spent some time with kids before the first abduction?”

Lucy shifted uncomfortably.

“Yes, during their sleepover. I went to the Garrisons’ while they all went out for dinner, and Griffin kept telling horror stories.”

Sam smiled apologetically.

“Well, I’m sorry but you’ll have to get rid of it before it can create anything else.”

She looked at her tattoo and sighed.

“Oh well, I’ll get it covered, it’s not like I want to remember her anyway.”

 

**

 

As the first streaks of dawn appeared, they reached the last house on their route: Nathan and Griffin’s. Sam and Lucy each carried a kid as they were still half asleep and Dean stepped out of the car to get some fresh air. He watched the family from afar and refused politely when the mom invited him in with a wave.

He didn’t want to be part of a happy reunion when he knew he’d never have his.

From the other side of the street and through the window, he saw Sam and Lucy seemingly happy, talking with the Knights. He realised that this would be the moment Cas would startle him with a flap of his wings and greet him with a deep “ _Hello Dean_ ”. Dean would actually know Cas was there before he’d open his mouth and he would smile to himself. The angel always seemed to know when he felt distressed. Well not tonight, he didn’t. Because God only knew where he was.

“God,” Dean scoffed. “You, son of a bitch! He helped You in more ways than any angel did, and You just don’t give a fuck?

“I don’t even know why I’m talking to You. You left and You don’t care, You selfish bastard.”

Dean didn’t actually want to talk to God, he knew it was childish and pointless but he was mad at Him and at that moment he’d much rather talk to Cas.

He tried his best to picture those impossibly blue eyes of his. That ruffled hair. Those chapped lips. That stubble he didn’t use to have but which suited him after all. That stupid oversized trench coat—

 _“In which I wrapped him in his grave—”_  he couldn’t help but think.

“Fuck, Cas,” he whispered with a tearful voice. He’d give anything,  ** _anything_** , to feel the angel’s hand on his shoulder again. He lowered his head holding back tears.

 “You know, you’d be proud, man,” he said with his eyes closed, holding onto Cas’ image. “Sam and I, we saved those kids, and I almost didn’t drink.” He laughed a hollow laughter.

“But I haven’t forgotten about you. If there’s a way to get to you, I will find it. And if there’s not... I will find one anyway.”

He sighed and wiped his eyes. When he looked up Lucy was crossing the street alone.

“Where’s Sam?” Dean asked straightening up.

“I think he’s getting thanked profusely by the Knights,” she said. “Are you okay?” she asked concerned.

“Sure, I’m fine,” Dean replied.

Lucy frowned and tried to make eye contact with him.

“Don’t lose hope. You’ll get her back you know,” she simply said.

“Get who back?” Dean asked confused.

“The girl. The one you’re missing.”

“What makes you think there’s a one I’m missing?” Dean asked shifting uneasily.

“First of all? The way you just reacted,” she said pointing at Dean, “and second of all, when you grabbed my hand back in the cage. You said Cassie—”

“ ** _Cas_** ,” Dean corrected sternly.

Lucy tried to hide a smile “Sorry... Cas,” she insisted on the name. “And then you wouldn’t look me in the eye and now you’re acting all moody. I’ve seen people losing someone they love and yo’re definitely one of them. But I’m sure she’ll resurface eventua—”

“ ** _He_** ’s dead,” Dean said gritting his teeth.

“Oh,” she looked down. “I’m sorry,” she said.

She got in for a hug but stopped mid-motion and decided to squeeze his shoulder instead. He stared at her hand for a second, but it was just enough for Lucy to feel uneasy. She took her hand off his shoulder swiftly.

“And we’re not close enough for this kind of physical contact, I get it now,” she cleared her throat awkwardly and turned to check on Sam. Through the door, she could see he was about to leave.

She turned her attention back to Dean.

“All I’m saying is: don’t give up. I’ve seen things I’d never thought possible in the past two weeks. And when I thought we were done for, you came in and saved the day. You and your brother.

“What you did was impossible, but you did it anyway. So I guess, as hopeless a situation might seem, you can find help in the most improbable places. You beat a supernatural psycho-killer monster with a freaking plush toy for Christ’s sake! That must count for something!” She smiled encouragingly and managed to get a half-hearted smile from Dean, which was good enough for her.

On the opposite side of the street, the door opened. Sam shook hands with Mr Knight and got sucked into a hug with Mrs Knight. He then joined his brother and Lucy to the car.

 

**

 

After a ten minutes drive, Dean parked the Impala in Lucy’s driveway. He was about to stay in the car, but Lucy knocked on the window on his side.

“You won’t get away from it,” she smiled and opened the door. Dean stepped out and she pulled him into a hug.

“You’ll get him back, just look for improbable help,” she whispered just before letting him go.

She turned away and Sam walked her to her door. Dean sat back behind the wheel.

 

“Sooo... Will I see you again?” Lucy asked almost shyly.

“Erm... I thought you—”

Lucy raised an eyebrow.

“You thought I— What?”

“I don’t know,” Sam said confused. “I—I was under the impression that you were into—Girls?” he finished.

Lucy’s laughter chimed.

“Well, we don’t have to have sex the next time we see each other,” and she laughed again.

“Oh, no no, that’s not— Jeez! That’s not what I meant!”

She smiled fondly, enjoying how uneasy Sam was.

“It’s just that the way you asked made it seem like you wanted to see me again because you like me in that way... You know?” he had uttered those last two words in a high-pitched voice.

“That got me confused,” he explained.

He smiled uncomfortably, well aware that he was making a fool of himself.

“I’m sorry,” he finished utterly embarrassed.

Lucy stood on tiptoe and kissed Sam gently. He broke the kiss and stared at her.

“Still confused,” he said.

“I mention an ex-girlfriend once and you instantly assume I’m into girls only?” Lucy asked, amused.

“I—Don’t know,” Sam replied.

“Well, I’m not,” she said.

Dean was observing his brother from inside the car, he couldn’t hear what they were saying but he definitely could see them kiss and exchange phone numbers.

He couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy in his chest but he quickly shut it down.

**

“So, are you going to see her again?” Dean asked as he backed away in Lucy’s driveway.

Dean turned left and Lucy’s house grew smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror until it was out of sight.

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Sam replied, “I want to, but I’m not sure it’s a great idea.”

 “Why? She’s a babe,” Dean said, “she could fit in your pocket, but she’s a babe.”

Sam chuckled.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s too soon after everyth—”

“Don’t. Just—Just don’t,” Dean said. “Enjoy life. And sex. And love. Before it’s too late you know?”

Sam sighed and fell silent.

“What about you?” he finally asked glancing at his brother.

“What about me?” Dean asked mirroring his brother.

“Well, won’t you enjoy life and sex and love too?”

“Everything in its own time, Sammy. I need to get Cas back first.”

Sam cocked an eyebrow.

“How are you planning to do that?”

“I’ll look for help in improbable places,” Dean simply replied turning on the music.

He looked straight at the road ahead as the speakers belted out Van Halen’s Runnin’ With The Devil. Sam looked out his window at the rising sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo... This has been a rollercoaster guys! I finally wrote a big story for the first time in my life, and whoa, that's a very intense feeling!  
> As you know I love gifs, so here's Dean reaction at the end (yes I made it specifically for this hehe):
> 
>  
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>  
> 
>  Ok so, please don't leave me! I'll soon write the sequel, that's why I made this fic part of a Series, I hope you'll read it all :-D 
> 
> For now, I'm currently writing a tiny Destiel one shot for Halloween, just to get my mind on something else, but don't worry I'll come back to this one quickly (especially since the show's back now, I want to tell what I had in mind before I get influenced by the show)
> 
> PS: Have you spotted all the movie references? Tell me in the comments ;)


	8. Not part of the fic: News about the sequel/series

For my subscribers, just know that I've added to this fic, it's a new installment to the series, [here's the link ;) ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14031492/chapters/32317440)


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